


Returning and Returning

by sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Feelings, Hand Jobs, Literal Sleeping Together, Multi, Oral Sex, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Thank God We're Alive Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 06:44:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/pseuds/sunspot
Summary: Steve brings Bucky back to them. Back home.





	Returning and Returning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CloudAtlas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudAtlas/gifts).



> AU in which we have an established relationship before Bucky goes MIA in Austria.

When Steve marched back into camp, Bucky at his side, he felt fucking unstoppable. Exhausted, sore, devastated, and gut-wrenched by everything they witnessed and the implications behind it, but unstoppable nonetheless.

They shake hands, clap shoulders, smile gratefully for the cheers and accolades, and even submit to a prodding medical exam for the peace of mind of their superiors.

Steve hasn't seen Peggy yet, and he's keenly aware of it. After a few minutes, he also realizes he hasn't let go of Bucky's wrist since they got back. He thinks about it for a moment, but anyone who would talk isn't going to say shit to them today, so he keeps holding on.

The onslaught of people needing to see them slows, finally, blessedly, to a trickle and Steve chooses the moment of their escape. Just like leaving the Hydra base, he chooses 'immediately, as fast as humanly possible, let's just get the fuck out of here.' And for a second time, it works out in their favour.

There's a door. It looks solid and it shuts tightly behind them. It leads to a supply closet of some sort, with no lights, and that's just fine.

Finally, finally alone, the noise that's followed them for days begins to fade into a distant, background hum. Steve can hear Bucky breathing and how it still seems ragged on the edges.

"God, Buck," he manages in a whisper before they fold themselves into each other. Steve wraps his arms across Bucky's back and feels fingers tightening on the lapels of his jacket. It should be nothing, just some little nothing touch that is there and gone in an instant, but they linger, and cling together, and it's the most that Steve's _felt_ in ages. More than the desperation, the grief, when he found out Bucky had been captured, more than the determination to find him, the relief at seeing him alive.

There's a jolt in his arms that takes a full second for Steve to parse it as a sob.

"Hey," Steve says, unable to come up with anything better. Bucky's fingers curl at his neck, holding him still and Steve just stands there and lets him. He fits one hand across Bucky's back, trying to press him closer, as if it were possible. He ignores how prominent the bones feel under his palm, a discussion for the morning, once they've sussed each other out again.

Bucky's breathing stops hitching so much, and he pulls away, wiping ineffectually at his eyes.

"Just… Fuck," he says feelingly.

"Yeah," Steve says, and it comes with a shaky laugh. Bucky grins at him, the familiar flash of teeth and the crinkle at the eyes, it's everything Steve needs to grab at him again.

They slide slowly and inexorably into the first kiss, still feeling a touch unfamiliar with Steve's new height, but they don't let the first fumbles impair them for long. It's been long enough that it's as electric and fulfilling as it was the first time, all those years ago.

There's a tapping noise very close by at some point, because time passes at a strange rate in moments like this. Bucky pulls back first, because Steve couldn't if he wanted to (and he does not want to). It's someone tapping on the door. No one would tap on a supply closet door, unless they knew someone was in there and best not be disturbed.

Steve doesn't bother straightening his jacket before he opens the door a little to peer out. He pauses for only a second before throwing it open and Peggy forces her way into the cramped space before either can reach for her.

She's speechless it seems, for however unlikely that is.

"It's okay," Bucky says,when it's been long enough to get awkward without Steve or Peggy speaking.

It's hard to see anything, even if the door is still open a crack, but Steve knows Bucky's see the worry, relief, and exhaustion in equal measures on Steve's face since and is probably translating that to Peggy.

"I'm okay. We're okay," Bucky adds. Steve puts his arm around both of them, pushing on Bucky's shoulders again to bring him closer, with Peggy between them. She lets her head rest on Bucky's shoulder. Steve doesn't catch what she's whispering to him beyond 'James' a few times, but he can guess the rest.

It's unclear how long they stay in the supply closet, trying to occupy as much of each other's space as possible, but eventually Peggy regains the good sense to suggest the find somewhere else to be, somewhere more comfortable and less like a supply closet.

Her quarters are not quite as spacious as a closet, but there's a lock on the door and four walls and a roof, so it may well be heaven.

There's nowhere near space for all of them on the cot, so they resort to spreading blankets on the floor. Steve tries to insist that Bucky sleeps in an actual bed, given all he's been through, but he's met with a blank, unwavering stare until he has to throw up his hands and give up the protest.

The negotiations required to actually lay the three of them out and pull a blanket over are delicate, but workable, and Steve barely accomplishes it before Bucky drifts off.

"I'm gonna sleep, okay?" Bucky asks from between them, and Peggy shushes him before Steve can. He curls against her, letting Steve circle his arms around both of them again. Even if he wasn't the only one with the reach to do it, the role would fall to him anyway. He's always been the protector.

Bucky's asleep before Steve can reassure him he's safe. Peggy meets his eyes, her hand still rubbing circles on Bucky's hip through the blanket.

"If you ever try --"

"I know," he says. He's only ever able to dodge the full brunt of her feelings for so long, and he thinks maybe his time is up, but Peggy's sternness dissolves into a sigh and a crinkle around her eyes.

"I'm so relieved," she says.

"I know," he says again. Steve can feel it too, like everything clawing at the back of his throat, threatening to come screeching out.

"We're going to need a long discussion about how much stress either of you is permitted to put me through in the future," Peggy says.

"I know."

"If you say that one more time…"

"I love you," Steve says. He's obviously never been a quitter, but he thinks he might be learning.

"Love you too," Bucky says, murmuring it into Peggy's skin and pressing little kisses until he hits the spot that makes her bite back a laugh and hold his face away. Steve can never seem to find it when he tries.

"I love you," Peggy says to both of them them, brushing a stray bit of hair off Bucky's forehead before she twines her fingers with Steve's.

He wishes for more and less, less stress, less time spent worrying about who's alive and who's MIA, less people trying to kill them and ruin the safety of the lives they've built, more time to build those lives, more time just wasting time.

But tonight it's okay, it'll be enough. Bucky's back, he's living and breathing, he's returned to them as whole as they could have hoped, and they'll have time again for everything that's supposed to come next.

* * *

There's no windows and no sign of the sky to hint how long he'd been asleep when Steve wakes up. He's never worn a watch, and though Peggy keeps one nearby, he wouldn't be able to find it anyway. It's warm and dark and comfortable, with Bucky and Peggy both within touching distance, he's going to wait until the last possible second to get up anyways.

Bucky groans a little as he turns onto his back, having not really moved overnight. Steve doesn't blame him. The first time he spent a night between them, he did the same. With his face pressed into Peggy's soft, fragrant hair and Bucky, solid and reassuring at his back, he'd slept easy and comfortably for hours.

"Hey," Bucky whispers, catching Steve staring in the dim light filtering under the door. He smiles, still loose and warm from sleep, and Steve can't help himself, he's got to lean in and kiss the slightly crooked, perfect smile he'd almost lost.

Peggy's leg slides over Bucky's hips and she plants herself between them. Steve kisses her too -- how could he not? -- before she leans up on one elbow to get something off the footlocker. She squints at the face of the watch before she drops it somewhere past Bucky's head.

"About a half hour before we're missed," she whispers. "We could stretch it to forty minutes, maybe."

Bucky wakes up a bit more. "Half an hour's plenty," he says. It's the first thing he's said since he's been back that truly sounds like him, a little bold, a lot of charming insinuations.

"Are you --"

"Don't ask me if I'm okay, Rogers, I ain't dead and I ain't dying," he snaps, rolling onto his side and wrapping his arm around Peggy. "Right, Peg?"

She shifts her hips back against him and Steve watches them both react to the contact and he suddenly needs some contact of his own.

"I'm halfway inclined to agree with him, actually," Peggy says.

Bucky's eyes narrow and his smirk turns pouty. "Okay, well --"

"So, you'll just have to stay quiet and do as your told and not exert yourself too much."

The look that comes over Bucky's face is just… Steve doesn't have words for what it is. He looks a little peeved that he'd walked right into it, but mostly just turned on. It's arousing for ten differents reasons, and that's not counting how Bucky reaches around Peggy with no preamble or agreement, and wraps his fingers around Steve's cock and strokes haltingly.

"This isn't too straining, right?"

Peggy somehow manages to get even closer to Steve, until he's breathing in the soap she uses in her hair, and slides her hand over Bucky's, tightening the grip and speeding up the pace. "I'm sure you're fine, but it's impolite to turn down a helping hand. Right Steve?"

Steve bites his bottom lip and has to force himself to keep watching them. He's got two sets of eyes watching his every move like he's the most delightful thing in the room, and he doesn't want to miss a second.

He reaches through the tangle of arms and grabs at Peggy, wanting to pare down some of her layers to get to the feel of her skin against his. There's a stutter in the stroke and Steve barely muffles his startled noise in time.

Peggy laughs and lets go. She focuses her attention on Bucky instead curling in his arms to cup his face and kiss him slow and steamy. Steve can feel what she's doing to him through Bucky's hand on his dick, when it slows or speeds, when his fingers tighten or go slack.

It's one of the most frequently astounding things about being three, Steve's often thought. The reactions and the interplay of three people instead of two, or one. Nothing's ever static. They bounce off each other, for better or worse, depending on the situation. But in moments like these, it's fucking divine.

Steve watches his partners kissing while still getting slowly, lazily even, jacked off. He wants to involve himself more somehow, but Peggy's making that sweet little almost purr sound she does and Bucky's trying his best not to mess up her hair, it's all too perfect to mess up. Steve just relaxes, watches the free show, and spills come over the back of Bucky's hand.

It must take him a minute to realize, but then he's laughing softly and pulling his hand away to wipe it who knows where. "Steve's done," he tells Peggy. "Just you and me now, darlin'."

"We can find a use for him," Peggy assures, and yes, of course Steve knows how to make himself useful.

Dismissing prior instruction to not unduly tax himself, Bucky shoves at the blankets they'd slept with until he gets Peggy exposed and can ruck up her nightgown.

Steve kisses her, knowing what comes next. She gasps into his mouth when Bucky starts doing whatever it is he's doing. Steve's tried to study before, but watching the way he licks at the very centre of her and hearing the noises it wrings out of her, he can't focus on the lesson for more than a second.

Peggy runs her fingers through Bucky's hair, smoothing it, scratching her nails over his scalp, and he hums his appreciation. Steve is willing to admit he's fascinated, watching them together. Bucky's eyes flicker open, looking up between Peggy and Steve, even as his mouth works against Peggy's folds.

Steve keeps her distracted with kisses, breathing in all the sounds she's making, the gasps and the moans and the little, bubbling laughs. Bucky echoes with a warm chuckle of his own, and it's a joke between them that Steve doesn't quite understand. He doesn't need to, of course, and he's just happy they seem to enjoy each other as much as he's over the moon with the two of them.

Peggy's hand finds his, lacing their fingers together and squeezing, nuzzling against the side of his face. She murmurs Bucky's name into Steve's neck when she comes. She almost always calls him 'James' and he seems to like it, though Steve hasn't called him that since they were eight years old. Steve likes the feel of all of it, the hot breath, the strange-familiar name said like a benediction, the way Bucky slides gracefully up her body and wraps his arms around both of them.

They're reaching the end of their half hour. Peggy kisses Bucky's cheek and raises an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about me, that was. _More_ than enough. I'm good." Bucky smiles and it's serene and soft and it makes Steve want to lock all the doors and never leave this moment.

"If we don't get up now, we never will," says Peggy, ever the pragmatist and ever the mind reader.

Dressing quickly and watching Bucky leave first with one quick parting glance is only tough for a second. After counting to one hundred in their heads, Peggy gives Steve one final peck on the cheek before pushing him out the door.

Steve gets another rush of feelings, just like yesterday, that he wasn't expecting. Things were starting to level out again. He's found himself strong, stable footing again and yes, there was still a war, but suddenly, he knows it's a war they're going to win. And after this is all over, they can reflect on how they've changed, together. There's almost an infinity of unknowns, but Steve knows one thing. He feels fucking unstoppable.


End file.
